Gas at $4.50 — is the Iran Blockade Making it Worse? (5 of 5)

If and when the strait reopens, Woods said that it will take up to two months for oil flows to get back to normal levels and another month or so for that oil to reach customers.

“We’re heading towards another weekend of potential uncertainty,” said analysts at the financial firm ING. Global oil markets don’t trade over the weekend.

Friday is “seen in the minds of many as something of a key day by which some move needs to happen between the U.S. and Iran with respect to a deal of sorts,” they wrote.

But they cautioned, “Hope is fading on this, which risks seeing the pendulum swinging back in the direction” of resumed fighting.

That would not be great for markets, which would prefer a quick reopening of the Strait, even on a bad deal.”